


Unconventional Christmas

by heartsdesire456



Series: 25 Days of Fandom [21]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Christmas, Families of Choice, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Mentions of child neglect
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-22
Updated: 2014-12-22
Packaged: 2018-03-02 19:15:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2823068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartsdesire456/pseuds/heartsdesire456
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint, Phil, and Skye are stuck in a safehouse waiting on extraction for Christmas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unconventional Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> I"M MAKING IT JUST UNDER THE MIDNIGHT LIMIT!

As Clint’s watch beeped, he looked down and tilted his head. “Well. It’s officially Christmas,” he said, looking across the room to where Phil was trying to cook them something to eat.

“Well, let’s be honest, this isn’t the _worst_ Christmas I’ve had.” They both turned to see Skye coming in from the tiny bathroom. She was wearing a huge long sleeve shirt and baggy sweatpants, scrubbing at her hair with a towel. She flopped down beside Clint on the couch and pulled her feet up, knees coming to her chest. “Actually it isn’t even sucky at all.”

Clint raised an eyebrow. “You had mud covering every inch of you an hour ago, it’s cold as hell, we’re scraping together a shitty night’s ration, waiting for extraction pickup, and you’re not with your friends. How is this not a sucky Christmas?” he asked her curiously. 

Skye shrugged, tossing her towel over the back of the couch. “We survived, for one thing.”

“Such high standards you have there,” Clint drawled and she rolled her eyes at him.

“I’ve had better Christmases, but this isn’t the worst.” She settled back into the corner of the couch. “One year, I was in this foster home, and I was about… seven? Eight maybe?” She shook her head. “They told me I wasn’t ‘their kid’ so they weren’t responsible for giving me presents. And I was still little enough I believed in Santa Claus, so I thought ‘hey, that’s okay, I’ve been good, I’ll get something from Santa.” She looked up at Clint. “Christmas morning comes, and I really expected I’d have at least something.” She shook her head. “I had to sit there and watch the couple’s real kids opening tons of toys and I didn’t have anything. Later, I was upstairs crying, and the mom, she asked me what I was whining about this time, and when I said I didn’t know why Santa didn’t get me anything, she just said ‘he probably knows you were so bad your mom and dad gave you away’.”

Clint gaped. “Damn, that’s harsh.”

Skye snorted, nodding. “Yeah, I had some good foster families, but a few of them really sucked.” She nodded at Phil. “Coulson found my SHIELD file, so at least now I know that the families that liked me, they would’ve kept me if SHIELD hadn’t made them keep me moving around.”

Clint shook his head, leaning back. “I didn’t like the foster family crap.” He slung his legs up on the couch beside Skye’s hip. “Me and my brother did that once. They split us up, so I went to one family and he went to another one. But we planned it out when they told us,” he explained. “We decided the third night we’d run away, and we’d meet at the bus station. And we did,” he said, grinning. “Here I was, about ten, walking at three in the morning to the bus station with a backpack, still in my pajamas. We got there, and we snuck onto a bus and laid in the floor in the very back before anybody got on, then when the driver got on and passengers got on, nobody saw us, and I fell asleep, but when Barney woke me up, we got off the bus.” He nodded at Phil. “He already knows this, but that night we found ourselves at Carson’s Carnival of Traveling Wonders.” He held out his hands. “And the rest is history.”

Skye laughed, shaking her head. “No way you actually ran away to the circus-“

“Did, too,” Clint said, flapping a hand at Phil. “Tell her, Phil! Didn’t I join the circus?”

Phil nodded. “That he did.” He glanced over at him, smirking. “I’ve seen him do crazy acrobatics to prove it. Especially when he trips and tries his hardest not to actually fall.”

Clint grinned impishly. “You say that, but the look on your face suggests you’re thinking about acrobatics in a whole different setting, Phil,” he said, winking at him. 

Skye looked between them suddenly. “Whoooaaaa, are you saying-“

“Me and Phil have did it before?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows. “Yep. Sure have.”

Phil sighed, looking skywards. “We’re actually married,” he admitted reluctantly and Skye flailed, nearly falling off the couch. 

“You’re _married_?!” she asked in shock.

Phil nodded with a heavy sigh. “Unfortunately.” 

Clint rolled his eyes, crossing his arms behind his head as he leaned back. “Feelin’ the love, Honey,” he joked.

“But what about cello lady?” Skye asked, frowning. “Simmons said you were super upset about all that stuff.”

Phil grimaced, turning back to the stove. “Well. It’s… a long story.”

“It’s really not,” Clint said to Skye. “Phil and I were dating a few years ago, but I was a dumbass and we had a shitty fight and I broke up with him cause I was being petty. He got assigned to the west coast, and I was on the east coast, and we didn’t ever see each other or talk or anything for years. In that time, he and Audrey became a thing, but then we both got put on the team when Thor landed in New Mexico and we hadn’t seen each other in a few years and we kinda realized it wasn’t awkward or anything, we slid right back into how things used to be before we dated.” He nodded to Phil. “We both got assigned to this research facility and it kinda strained things for him and Audrey and they split up and me and him got back together a few months later, and not long before Phil died, we got married.”

Phil shrugged when Skye gave him a surprised look. “I was upset because even if things didn’t work out, she loved me and was grieving my death. I didn’t really love her the same way, but that’s a shitty thing to do, really, leave somebody to mourn you.” He cringed. “If they thought that was upset, they should’ve seen me when I realized nobody told Clint I wasn’t dead,” he said and Clint rolled his eyes.

“I punched Nick Fury in the face,” he said matter-of-factly, making Skye blink in surprise.

“You punched Nick Fury in the face.” She stared and then whistled. “Wow, and you lived to tell about it?” 

Phil came over, holding a bowl and a couple of mugs. “Nick tazed him,” he said with an amused grin.

He poured some of the soup into each of the mugs, handing them over to Skye and Clint. Clint took his with a smile. “Thanks,” he said, sipping the soup with a happy sigh. “Mmm, warm.” He lifted his legs so that Phil could sit between him and Skye, then lowered them to rest on Phil’s lap. He looked at him. “That was my worst Christmas,” he said, looking past Phil to Skye. “The one when I was alone. My best friend was on a mission, Phil was dead, and I was still kicked out of SHIELD.” He shook his head. “I pretty much just spent all day in bed, trying not to start crying about the whole ‘dead husband’ thing.”

Phil put a hand on his knee, squeezing it lightly. “Still really sorry about that,” he said, and Clint smiled at him.

“Hey, you came back to me,” he said, sliding his hand into Phil’s. 

Skye smiled, looking at them. “Awww, that’s actually really adorable,” she said, and Phil turned to glare at her. “What?” She nudged him with her toes. “It’s true.”

Phil chuckled and shook his head. “All in all, it’s not the worst Christmas,” he agreed with them, and Skye smiled brightly.

“Of course not, you’re with people that love you and nobody’s dying,” she said, shifting to lean against his side.

Phil rolled his eyes and lifted his arm so she could duck under it and lean against his shoulder as she blew on her soup. “I’m with my two favorite people at least, so yeah, it could be worse,” he said, and Skye smirked.

“I won’t tell May you like me and Clint better than her,” she teased.

Clint poked her in the leg with his toes. “Just don’t get any ideas about putting the moves on my man,” he joked and she and Coulson both gave him disgusted looks.

“Ew, he’s like really old, Clint, that’s just gross.” She blinked when Coulson gave her a look, raising an eyebrow. She rolled her eyes. “I mean you’re like my dad.”

Phil narrowed his eyes “Smooth recovery,” he said, then cracked her a smile. “I am pretty old, though.”

Clint nodded at her. “He’s twelve years older than me. I’m definitely his mid-life crisis.”

Skye smirked. “Ah now I get it. Is that why you’ve surrounded yourself with young, gorgeous agents? After-life crisis?” she joked.

Phil shrugged. “Hey, my ‘after-life’ is going well so far, all things considered.” He shook her shoulder slightly. “I’ve got the closest thing to a daughter I’ll ever have, and I got my husband back,” he said, squeezing Clint’s knee again.

Clint grinned. “He’s way less uptight these days, too,” he informed Skye, who laughed. He leaned over and kissed Phil’s cheek. “Skye’s good for you, Honey. If I knew you needed kids to chill you out, I’d have had your babies long ago.”

Phil snorted. “I know your education was unconventional, but I’m pretty sure you know it doesn’t work that way.” Clint and Skye just laughed at him.

“Yeah, yeah.” Clint laid his head on Phil’s shoulder, opposite the one Skye was already occupying. “Hey Phil?” Phil glanced down at him. He smiled brightly. “Merry Christmas.”

Phil smiled and leaned over to kiss his temple. “Merry Christmas, Clint.”

Skye cleared her throat pointedly and Phil and Clint both chuckled. “Merry Christmas, Skye.”


End file.
